The invention relates to a method of heat extraction from an aqueous carrier medium through its expansion on thermal utilization or revalorization of the resulting vapour.
On grounds of efficient utilization of energy and protection of the environment, one is being increasingly led to avoid any, even relatively small, thermal loss or burden on the environment. The known technical solutions to this, eg. heat extraction from a carrier medium at the end of a process, the so-called heat recovery, present themselves here. Provisions such as these, however, involve equipment or running costs and so attempts are made to achieve an economic co-product with such processes to clear, at least in part, the costs incurred.
It is known to be economical to use the heat of the resulting vapours on expansion of a medium, to then heat a receiver, a thermoconsuming device with the vapour directly or via an intercalated thermo-compression.
However, on expansion of carrier mediums of lower temperatures, in particular below their boiling point, the increasing volumes of vapour cause calibration difficulties in the apparatus which greatly detract from the profitability of such processes.